The Born house stands out from the stucco row houses of the Outer Sunset. It features a simple façade with vertical redwood siding, a straight roofline, and two modest windows. After the house was built, neighbors called it “Born’s Barn”. The interior is surprisingly spacious, considering the house is only 25 feet wide. The living room extends over two floors and opens up through a tall window wall to a protected garden on the east side of the property. Also on the ground floor are a photo studio and darkroom, a small garage, and a kitchen with a small patio on the west side of the lot. The upper floor contains two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a study on a balcony open to the living room below. It is from there that the view of the Pacific Ocean can be enjoyed. Ernest Born (1898-1992) was not only known as a prominent Bay Area architect but also as a painter of murals at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, graphic artist, professor of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, editor of Architectural Record and Architectural Forum, and co-author of several books. He often worked in association with his wife, Esther, who was also trained as an architect. Esther (1902-1987) was an accomplished photographer and authored with her husband “The New Architecture in Mexico” (1937).

The house’s compact size, spacious courtyard, and expansive views of the Pacific Ocean – as well as the interplay between the interior and its setting – are distinguishing characteristics of this house. A sensitive addition was added to the house in 2007 by Aidlin Darling Design. The current owner wanted minimal intervention in the existing house, and the architects came up with a freestanding building that is connected to the existing house at the second floor by a glass-walled bridge.

It’s not just a house but a design philosophy, complete with furniture and built-in details crafted by Born: a palatial dining-room table, beds, bureaus, wall installations for hanging (and rearranging) artwork, original lighting, original paint colors, even garden furniture.

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